Numbers 8:25
in Numbers 8But at the age of fifty, they must retire from performing the work and no longer serve.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the work, and shall serve no more,
KJV
And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more:
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This verse in Numbers 8
Commentary
4 notes on this verseIf God's grace provide that men shall have ability according to their work, man's prudence should take care that men have work only according to their ability. The aged are most fit for trusts, and to keep the charge; the younger are most fit for work, and to do the service.
This site's exposition
from twenty and five years old and upward
on Numbers 8:24-25
Numbers 4:3 set the Levite's entry at thirty years old and upward and this verse sets it at twenty and five, and the difference stands in the text without being explained there. Adam Clarke and John Gill both carry the old reading that the five years were a training, the young Levite learning the service from twenty five and bearing it from thirty, which the Jewish teachers hold. Others read chapter 4 as the age for carrying the sanctuary on the march and this chapter as the age for the ordinary service of the tent. Fifty ends it on either reading, and no such limit is written anywhere for the priests.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
PateriusEXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, NUMBERS 4 · Written before 606.
proposed
What is indicated by the twenty-fifth year, in which the flower of young manhood blooms, except those battles against every vice? And what is meant by fifty, which contains the repose of the jubilee, except the internal peace that comes when the war of the …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof,....
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּמִבֶּן֙ | umiben | and from a son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| חֲמִשִּׁ֣ים | chamishim | fifty | H2572 → | 163 times |
| שָׁנָ֔ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| יָשׁ֖וּב | yashuv | he will turn back | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| מִצְּבָ֣א | mitzeva' | from [the] service of | H6635 → | 485 times |
| הָעֲבֹדָ֑ה | haavodah | the service | H5656 → | 145 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יַעֲבֹ֖ד | yaavod | he will serve | H5647 → | 288 times |
| עֽוֹד׃ | od | again | H5750 → | 490 times |
וּמִבֶּן֙and from a son of
umibenH1121 →4930 times
חֲמִשִּׁ֣יםfifty
chamishimH2572 →163 times
שָׁנָ֔הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
יָשׁ֖וּבhe will turn back
yashuvH7725 →1056 times
מִצְּבָ֣אfrom [the] service of
mitzeva'H6635 →485 times
הָעֲבֹדָ֑הthe service
haavodahH5656 →145 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יַעֲבֹ֖דhe will serve
yaavodH5647 →288 times
עֽוֹד׃again
odH5750 →490 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Timothy 4:7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession before many witnesses.
- 1 Corinthians 9:24–27
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize.
- Hebrews 12:1–2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set…
- Acts 20:24
But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus—the ministry of testifying to the good…
- Philippians 3:13–14
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
- 1 Timothy 6:12
Through
Numbers 4:23from thirty to fifty years old, counting everyone who comes to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
it leads to
- Numbers 4:3
men from thirty to fifty years old—everyone who is qualified to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
- 2 Corinthians 10:3–5
For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh.
- 2 Timothy 2:3–4
Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
- Numbers 4:3
About Numbers

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Paterius, EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, NUMBERS 4.
